by Cali Mann
“Why aren’t the two of you at school?” she asked one morning, exasperated.
“Because we’re looking out for you,” I said.
Mom stood, muttering as she crossed the kitchen, then she swung around. “Well, I’m all better now. You can go.”
“Do you really think you can look after yourself?” I growled, hitting the wall with my hand. “You let that asshole beat you up.”
“None of your goddamn business,” Mom said, leaning against the counter. “And I didn’t let him.”
I frowned. I had so many questions, but she could barely stand and all she wanted to do was get rid of us. I crossed the room and slid under her arm, helping her into the living room. Alex followed, carrying her plate.
Settling her on the couch, I sat down next to her. “We need to talk.”
“About what, baby?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
I sighed. It wasn’t a great time, but it wasn’t going to get better. “There’s a recruiter who’s been following us around.”
“The old guy?” Alex asked.
“Shh,” I said, then turned back to Mom. “A recruiter for Thornbriar Academy.”
Mom blinked. “Huh, I haven’t heard that name in a long time.”
“You’ve heard of it?”
She nodded. “It’s one of the most famous shifter academies there is. What the hell do they want with us?”
“He says that he’s been sent to find lost shifters and bring them back to the fold,” I said, quirking an eyebrow. “He didn’t sound very happy about it.”
Alex watched me anxiously.
I shrugged. He wouldn’t want to go alone, but he needed to get over it. “I think Alex should go.”
“We don’t have money for that,” Mom said, shaking her head.
“Mr. Reed says there’s a scholarship, for kids like us.”
“You know you can’t go,” Mom said, frowning.
I pressed my lips together and nodded.
Alex looked between us. “You’re gonna decide my whole future, just like that? Not asking me whether I even want it?”
We both turned to him and said at the same time, “Yes.”
I think it was the first time I’d ever agreed with our mother on anything. But Alex was furious. I’d never seen his skin turn quite that color of red before.
“Alex, you know,” I said, trying for calm, “this would be great for you. A chance to learn control and study with other shifters.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”
“We’ll be fine,” Mom said. “You shouldn’t miss this opportunity.”
He paced across the living room in front of us. “Why can’t Sasha go too?”
“She’s a spirit shifter,” Mom said, her tone matter-of-fact. “They’ll kill her.”
“Why do they even need to know?” he asked.
Mom gave a half-hearted smile. “They’ll know, honey. They’ve been doing this a long time.”
Alex stopped in front of us, sliding his hands in his pockets. “You know she means to kill him.”
Mom shrugged and winced as it pulled on her bruises. “Someone should. He’s an asshole.”
I smirked.
“Why’d you date him, then? Or even bring him home?” Alex asked, stringing more words together than I’d heard from him in a long time. “And why did you tell him about us?”
I turned my eyes to her. I wondered if she’d answer any of the questions or if she’d just avoid it like she always did. I had been thinking the same thing. Why had she betrayed us when she’d always done her best to protect us, both from her men and her life?
Mom leaned back on the sofa, reaching for her wine. “You exposed yourselves on the balcony. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“But you told him I’m a spirit shifter,” I said quietly.
She swallowed her wine. Casting her gaze toward the floor, she said, “This wasn’t the only time he’s hurt me.”
“And yet you kept seeing him until he did this?” I seethed.
“You don’t understand. You’re just kids.”
“Understand what?” Alex squeezed his fists, glowering at her. “That you don’t care about anyone?”
“That’s enough,” she snarled. “I’m the adult here, and you kids will respect me.”
“Maybe when you start respecting yourself,” I muttered.
“You don’t understand how hard it is to be me.”
I sighed. “You’re a fucking vampire. You can take anything you want, and yet you simper and preen for every asshole who throws trinkets at you.”
She slammed her glass on the table and it shattered, spilling wine over the perfectly white rug. “Damn,” she muttered, gazing down at it, sounding more frail and older than I’d ever heard her.
Then she lifted her eyes back to us. Quietly, she said, “I’ve been alone for a long time. Ever since your father left us broke and helpless. I’ve taken care of you kids.”
Alex snorted.
Putting her hands on her hips, she said, “You don’t get to judge me.”
“Don’t we?” Alex growled, then he turned and slammed out of the room.
I wanted to follow him, but I had to clean up after her.
* * *
The next day, we went back to school. Mom and I both tried to get Alex to go see Mr. Reed, but he was having none of it.
“Only if you and Mom are okay, and you’re not,” he insisted.
I just sighed and demanded he listen to me. Instead, he played dumb and rode silently beside me on the school bus both ways.
That night I had to go to work; I’d been putting Gary off all week. The dogs weren’t bad, and the customers were pretty low key. I picked Alex up at the library, and we headed home. The sky was moonless and dark, but the streetlamps lit our way for the most part.
“Won’t you at least talk to Mr. Reed?” I asked. “Find out what you might be missing?”
“Why should I?” he muttered.
“Because you could be around other shifters.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and stared down at the sidewalk. “And away from all this.”
“Stop trying to get rid of me. We’re family.”
I snorted. “We’ve never been a family, Alex. You know that. As soon as she’s better, Mom will go back to ignoring us like she always has.”
“And you’ll what—go to jail for killing some guy?” Angry and hostile didn’t look good on him. His baby blues just couldn’t hold that much fury. “Or worse: get killed yourself.”
I shrugged. “You’re right. It’s stupid to go up against him.”
He eyed me suspiciously.
“What if I said I’d hide out, let Mom do what she was gonna do, and just stay out of it? If you go to Thornbriar.”
Alex growled and stomped ahead of me up the steps to the house. The porch light shone over him, lighting his blond hair like a halo. I paused, staring into the inky darkness of the bushes off the sidewalk. A dog howled.
“You coming?” Alex called back.
“In a minute,” I muttered, dropping down onto the cool step. Alex knew where the extra key was. He didn’t need me.
I listened to his feet fade away and clasped and unclasped my hands in my lap. I let my worry rest for a moment. He was home. He was safe. Not a moment went by that I didn’t worry about my brother like some old mother hen. I loved him, but this wasn’t my job. It should have been her job. But it never had been.
The street was empty; I could hear the faint music of crickets under the rumble of constant city noise. I rubbed my temple and took a breath. How had things gotten so complicated? In just a few short days? More than the constant responsibility, I needed a way out for Alex.
I worried about the danger of Mom’s lover who knew what we were and if—or when—he’d come back to abuse Mom again. I sighed. And she’d let him. I could admit that much, at least. Alex was right. She could stand up for herself any time she wanted, but she didn’t. She liked being needy
, being showered with gifts, and maybe somewhere inside she felt like she deserved the pain.
A whiff of cigarette smoke crossed my nose, and I looked around for the source. His dark eyes stared at me out of the shadows, illuminated by the burning embers of his cigarette. “Spirit shifter,” he spat like it was a curse.
7
Sasha
I stood, squaring my shoulders to face him. “Asshole, what do you want?”
“Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” Mom’s lover tapped his cigarette on the rail, letting the ash fall into the bush.
His malevolent energy swept over me, and my stomach rolled. “At least I don’t get my jollies beating up women,” I muttered.
He snickered. “You know your mother better than that. She wanted it.”
“You’re not wanted here.” I started up the steps.
He flicked the butt of his cigarette across the sidewalk. “But don’t you want to know how you can save your whole family?”
I glanced back. “Yeah, by keeping them the hell away from you.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he said, leaning toward me. A cruel smile spread across his face. “I had fun playing with your mother the other night, and I can’t wait to do it again.”
He was baiting me. I knew it, but I couldn’t help the anger that roared to life in my gut. I spun, snarling at him like some rabid wolf. I leaped off the stairs and crashed into him, knocking him to the ground, but when I raised my fist, a searing pain jolted through me. My skin was on fire. I opened my mouth to scream, but I couldn’t even draw a breath. It was as if he’d burned away all my oxygen. I rolled off him, gasping and holding my neck.
Sitting up slowly, he watched me wriggle in agony on the grass. “Sasha,” he said, pulling another cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it with a finger. “I fucking hate spirit shifters, and I am not to be trifled with.”
Now that he wasn’t touching me, the fire slowly lessened, and my breath came back in gasps. I lay on the grass staring up at the dark sky, the hint of stars leaking through the clouds. “What . . . do . . . you . . . want?” I choked out.
“Well, as much as I enjoy demonstrating my power to idiotic teenagers,” he drawled, exhaling small rings of smoke, “I thought we might help each other.”
“How?”
“You want to go to Thornbriar Academy.” He eyed me, his lips twisting in distaste. “Or rather, you want your brother, Alex, to go.”
I sat up and instantly regretted it as dizziness swirled through me. Bile rose in my throat, and I took a breath, trying to force it back down. Once I could speak, I asked, “How do you know this?”
“Your sweet mother is so accommodating.”
I could hear the smirk in his voice, and a hard stone settled in my stomach. “You went to see her? As soon as we left her alone for a moment, you snuck back in?”
“She welcomed me with open arms.”
I closed my eyes. “Of course she did.” She didn’t care about us. She only wanted her next fix; men and riches were her drugs. We could feed her and bandage her, but the moment our back was turned, she’d call him. I looked over at the shadowy man next to me. “And she told you.”
“Now you are beginning to understand, Sasha,” he said, as if he were proud of his tutelage. “I knew you’d be the smart one.”
My stomach curled into a little ball and whimpered, but I couldn’t let him see what his words did to me. “How do I save Alex?”
He chuckled. “Good. I think we’re finally on the same page.”
I stayed silent, waiting.
“You’re going to take Mr. Reed up on his little offer. Both you and Alex.”
I opened my mouth to protest, and he waved his cigarette at me.
“Let me finish,” he growled. “There’s been a change of leadership among the shifters, and Thornbriar Academy is now accepting spirit shifters.”
“Wait, what?” A dart of shock went through me.
“Yes, it seems your Mother’s knowledge is a little out of date,” he said. “So, you and your brother will both be welcomed.”
I frowned, feeling my brow wrinkle as I tried to figure out his angle in all this. It seemed as if he was giving me my greatest wish: both Alex and I to be welcomed into the shifter community and educated on how to control our powers. There had to be a hitch. “What about the madness?”
He scowled. “They believe they’ve found a cure.”
“A cure?” I couldn’t keep the disbelief out of my voice.
“That’s what I say, too, Sasha. What nonsense!” He chuckled darkly. “But they won’t let me kill your kind anymore. They say we have to be friends.” The word twisted in his mouth.
I swallowed. “You killed spirit shifters?”
“Infants, escapees, rogues—like yourself.” He nodded, satisfaction spreading across his face. “And I enjoyed every minute of it.”
The coldness in his voice chilled me to the bone. I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. “Murderer.”
He snorted. “No, executioner. An elite member of the Council itself. I performed a public service, and they thanked me for it.”
Horror didn’t even begin to describe the feeling flowing through me. Spirit shifters may have killed people, but they were crazy—they didn’t know what they did. This guy was a cold-blooded killer. He reveled in it.
“Well, until her, anyway,” he said. “Thornbriar let a spirit shifter in, accidentally of course, and they somehow let her kill the Oracle and take her place.”
I searched my brain, trying to remember what Mrs. Everett had said about the Oracle. A spiritual advisor who helped guide shifters? She had some kind of crazy powers, and she checked babies, I thought, declaring them spirit shifters or not. My memory was foggy; Mrs. Everett’s lessons felt like a long time ago. “She killed the Oracle?”
“Yes, can you believe it?” he muttered, his hands curling into fists.
“No,” I answered honestly.
“And now she’s the Oracle and she’s got the whole council bowing down in front of her.”
I didn’t know what to think. Mrs. Everett had talked about the Council, but they’d seemed like some faraway entity, nothing I’d ever care about. I shook my head. “What does this have to do with Alex and me? And Thornbriar?”
He turned toward me, leaning forward over his crossed legs, and his dark eyes bored into me. “That’s just it, you see?”
I didn’t see.
“Thornbriar is letting in a few spirit shifters on her say so. A trial basis, that bitch Larkin says.”
“So?”
“You’re going to be one of their test subjects,” he said, grinning. The smile didn’t fit his face at all. “And you’re going to make sure that they never let spirit shifters in again. You’re going to bring that whole goddamn school down around their ears if you have to.”
“What?” My breath caught in my throat. Destroy the experiment? The trial that was saving people like me? My chance at whatever this ‘cure’ was?
“Yes, Sasha,” he said. “You’re going to Thornbriar, and you’re going to ensure they never take another chance on spirit shifters.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I won’t do it.”
He reached out and grabbed my wrists, yanking me toward him. “You’re going to do it because if you don’t, I’m going to kill your brother.” He twisted the skin on my wrists, running his fire along it, and forced me to look at him.
I whimpered, helpless.
“Not quickly, little spirit shifter, or kindly. I’m going to torture your brother far longer and far worse than I did your mother and he’s going to die a horrible, painful death.”
My heart skittered against my ribs. “Why?” I gasped.
“Now, Sasha, don’t be an idiot.”
“But, if he’s there, with me, I’ll protect him. I won’t let you—”
He chuckled. “There’s no place in this wide world that I can’t get to, Sasha. I have hunted and executed
shifters for longer than you’ve been alive.”
“Thornbriar—”
“—can’t protect you any more than your mother can.” He let me go and stood, stomping out his cigarette on the sidewalk. Then he gazed down at me.
I sat there in the prickly grass, helpless and trapped. My heart ached, but I couldn’t see any way out of this. Like he’d said, he was stronger and more powerful than me and he had years more experience. If I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d hunt me down—worse, he’d hunt Alex down, and I had no doubt he’d do exactly what he said. My lip trembled, but I said, “What do I need to do?”
“At-a-girl!” he exclaimed. “Tell the recruiter that you’re in, and you’ll be on your way.”
“What do I do when I get there?”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be in close contact. I’ll want regular updates and plans.”
“Of course you will.” I stood slowly, feeling weighed down by bricks. I didn’t even know the asshole’s name and he’d just murdered my life. “Who are you?”
“My name is Charles Denison,” he said. “Now scamper off home, little spirit shifter. I’ll be in touch.” He turned and strolled away, whistling.
He didn’t even care that I knew his name. I could tell the Council, turn him in. I snorted. Who would believe me even if I tried to tell? And he’d kill us—Alex and me.
I stared after him until he disappeared out of sight. What had I done? What choice did I have?
8
Sasha
The next morning, I told Alex to pack anything he wanted. We were going away. He did so without argument, for once. I don’t know why. Maybe because I had said ‘we’, or maybe it was the expression on my face. I didn’t look in the mirror, but I knew I looked like hell—tired and drawn. I hadn’t slept, and I couldn’t keep any food down. We passed Mom’s door, and by silent agreement, neither of us opened it.
My backpack, stuffed with clothes and a few old pictures, felt so heavy it could have been weighted with lead. I dragged it out the front door, and the sun beamed down on us. Alex groaned behind me and pulled up his hoodie to cover his sensitive skin. Vampires could be out in sunlight, even young ones like him, but it was draining and uncomfortable.
